This invention relates to a process for producing a chemical compound enriched in isotope content. More particularly, it relates to the production of an isotopically enriched chemical compound by means of chemical exchange.
In the prior art, it is known to use a fuel cell in combination with an electrolysis cell, and to use the product of one of these cells as the starting material in the other cell. This technique is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,745 to Stedman, in which a fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen as starting materials to produce water and electricity, and the water formed in this cell is used as the starting material in an electrolysis cell. Similarly, an oxidation step has been combined with a reduction step, with the oxygen formed in the reduction step being used as the oxidizing agent in the oxidation step. U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,163 to Lyons, Jr. discloses such a system. It is also known to regenerate nitric acid in an electrochemical cell, as shown by Moerikofer in U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,274. Coupling chemical exchange with an electrolysis step is known, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,048 to Hammerli, et al., which relates to the production of heavy water. Also known is the coupling of chemical exchange with a chemical reactor, for the production of HNO.sub.3 enriched in N.sup.15 from isotopically enriched NO. This type of prior art is illustrated by the work of William Spindel and T. I. Taylor, as published in J. Chem. Physics, Vol. 23, p. 981 (1955); J. Chem. Physics, Vol. 24, p. 626 (1956); and Proceedings of the International Symposium on Isotope Separation, p. 158, North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam (1958). In some of this work, SO.sub.2 is used as a reagent for the conversion of HNO.sub.3 to NO to provide NO to a chemical exchange column, with the formation of H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 as a waste by-product. This type of process is material-inefficient, since it requires the use of an outside reagent and forms a waste product that must be subsequently treated. It is also energy-inefficient.
It is, accordingly, one object of the present invention to provide a material-efficient process for preparing a chemical compound enriched in isotope content.
A further object is to provide an energy-efficient process for preparing a chemical compound enriched in isotope content.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.